Opinion
Rising Water, Rising Worries
Boston and other East Coast cities can rewrite all the building codes they want as they scramble to meet the challenge of ominously rising sea levels. But what good are hardier, more flood resistant high-rises if no one wants to rent offices or buy condos in these buildings anymore?
Mass. Realtors Exhibit Short Memories
If Realtors here in Massachusetts have their way, Mitt Romney will carry our traditionally liberal state by a landslide in the fall with more than 70 percent of the vote, according to a recent HomeGain poll of real estate agents across the commonwealth.
Fading Into Obscurity
Boston’s ailing Financial District looks more irrelevant by the day, a ghostly monument to the stifling corporate bureaucracies of the 1970s. The question now is not whether it’s dead, but who killed it? And can this beached whale be revived, or is it simply fated to slowly rot away while other downtown Boston neighborhoods sparkle?
Rising In The East Setting In The West
All real estate markets are not created equal, especially here in the Bay State. Wealth and power traditionally flow east on the Massachusetts Turnpike, not west. And with the real estate market finally moving into “recovery†mode, the same dynamic is once again at work.
Rectifying The FHA’s Misplaced Priorities
The real estate market is rebounding in the Bay State amid a surge in sales and rising hopes for a turnaround in battered home prices. But instead of starting to wind down its massive intervention into a now healing market, one major federal agency is actually expanding its footprint into higher-end housing deals.
.Com Changes?
So, who's excited about the imminent top-level domain changes? Anybody? Bueller? Well, Realtors, for one. Or at least, the National Association of Realtors is. The "top level domains" are the three all important letters that come after the last dot of a website's...
Sellers’ Hearts of Darkness?
CoreLogic came out with its quarterly MarketPulse today, and the report went deep on the impact of negative equity on the real estate recovery. According to CoreLogic, the months’ supply of unsold homes was down to 6.5 in April, the lowest mark in more than five...
Time For Yet Another Google Freak Out?
Sydicated Columnist Bernice Ross has an interesting colum this week speculating on the possible consequences for real estate of recent changes to how Google does searches. (Ross' column is behind a paywall, but marketer Erik Goldhar covers many of the same bases...
Growing Affluence Tearing Down Middle Market
After taking a break during the recession, gentrification is back with a vengeance in Greater Boston, as middle-class capes and ranches get bulldozed in increasing numbers to make room for ever-larger homes.
Say Goodbye To Short-Lived Buyers’ Market
Here’s betting on a V-shaped recovery for home prices here in Massachusetts.
Bruins’ Owner Built Championship Team But Not Towers
Excuses, excuses and more excuses. That pretty much sums up the history of billionaire Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs’ halfhearted attempts to transform the area around North Station and the TD Garden into the center of a commercial, retail and residential megaplex.
Understanding What The Client’s Not Saying
Shannon Haines oversees some 500,000 square feet of office space as the new leasing agent and property manager for Cummings Properties’ TradeCenter 128 office campus in Woburn, a position she has held for the last five months. That’s not an easy feat for even the most seasoned leasing veteran, let alone one with Haines’ level of prior property management experience – none.
Five Mass. Towns Named Best Places To Live
Do you live in Milton, Sharon, Acton, Chelmsford or Easton? All five were named in CNN Money’s top 100 list of America’s best small towns to live in. Milton, which rang in at No. 2 – right after Louisville, Colo. – allows its residents to live on tree-lined streets...
Boston Makes The Grade For Investment-Worthy College Towns
While there probably aren’t a lot of people out there right now looking to purchase an investment property, you still might be interested to know that Boston has topped Move Inc.’s list of best college towns to invest in real estate. Apparently, the Boston/Cambridge...
Hot Apt. Market Set To Ignite Home Sales
The Greater Boston rental market has gone into overdrive seemingly overnight, with rents soaring and the number of available apartments plunging.
MBA Makes It Easy For You To Walk And Calculate Mortgage Payments At The Same Time
Following in the footsteps of other organizations trying to woo homebuyers, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has released its very own mobile phone application, which has (big surprise) a mortgage calculator and even a glossary of mortgage terms for those of us...
Renters Save The Day
Thanks to the recovering rental sector in the nation’s housing market, a “double dip” is unlikely to occur, according to a recent Freddie Mac report. So, not only will renting continue to stay strong throughout the rest of the year, the Freddie Mac report projects...
As Traffic Mounts, Rte. 128 Becoming A Road To Nowhere
Greater Boston faces a new traffic crisis, not even a decade after the more than $15 billion Big Dig carved a tunnel under downtown Boston.
Are You Young And Renting? Plan On It Staying That Way
If you’re under 30, you can basically forget about owning your own home. At least that what a recent study from the Mortgage Bankers Association's Research Institute for Housing America is telling us. At the height of the homebuying boom, it was this under-30 set that...
Neighborhood, Community Key In Homeowning Decisions
How much does a neighborhood or community influence homebuying decisions? Enough to make some people move from their current residence, according to a recent survey. One in five homeowners across the county have moved from their home or would like to move because...
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